tôm kể đầu, rau kể mớ
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Everyone minds their own business
Literally: shrimp tells the head, vegetables tell the bunch
Examples
Mỗi người có việc của mình, tôm kể đầu, rau kể mớEveryone has their own affairs, tôm kể đầu, rau kể mớ
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Discovered via Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918; public domain, via vi.wikisource); retrieved 2026-08-01. Source: source ↗ Attested in Nam ngạn chích cẩm (Phạm Quang Sán, 1918). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “tôm kể đầu, rau kể mớ” mean?
Everyone minds their own business Literally: shrimp tells the head, vegetables tell the bunch
Is “tôm kể đầu, rau kể mớ” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.